In her shoes: Look inside Camille O'Sullivan's home

Camille O'Sullivan's home is tastefully decorated with the paraphernalia of her stage career, but her background and education informed the choice of the actual house. Edited by Mary O'Sullivan. Photography by Tony Gavin

Singer Camille O’Sullivan in the garden she created when she moved into her red-brick terraced house in Dublin 8. She wanted a country feel, so she planted lots of fuchsia and lavender. She added the lanterns for colourBirch-ply shelves in the living room were made by Henry Seward. Camille installed the stove with a view to making a YouTube series. 'I had this notion that I would bring in acoustic people and they would sit and play by the stove,' she notes with a laughThe dressing table was a gift from the last owner who took a shine to the glamorous singer. The suitcases and vintage bags have been collected over the yearsBirch-ply shelves in the living room were made by Henry Seward. Camille installed the stove with a view to making a YouTube series. 'I had this notion that I would bring in acoustic people and they would sit and play by the stove,' she notes with a laughCamille on the steps of her stairs, decorated with her collection of shoes, which often play a part in her performances

These pictures show the home in Dublin 8 of Camille O'Sullivan. As can be seen, it's a home that is full of romance, sensuality, femininity and drama.

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In her shoes: Look inside Camille O'Sullivan's home

Independent.ie

These pictures show the home in Dublin 8 of Camille O'Sullivan. As can be seen, it's a home that is full of romance, sensuality, femininity and drama.

These are qualities that you don't normally find in the home of an architect; architects, as regular readers of My Favourite Room will know, tend to favour restraint, straight lines and monochrome.

Yet, not only is Camille a fully qualified architect, she's also won awards for her work in the field and has lectured to architectural students.

However, as many will know, the raven-haired beauty is now more celebrated the world over for her outstanding abilities as a singer and interpreter of the songs of Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill, Nick Cave and David Bowie, and she brings those very qualities that are obvious in her home to her performances; she's by turns sensual - to the point of raunchy - romantic, dramatic and always feminine.

Camille commands the stage and the screen so completely that it's hard to believe that she ever did anything else apart from sing, yet it took a life-changing event for her to summon the courage to give up architecture, at which she excelled, and give her singing talent a chance to shine.

Throughout her teenage years and even in college, Camille - whose mother is French, while her father is Irish - had always performed in school dramas in her home town of Cork and in dramsoc in UCD, but even though many people told her she should go professional, she balked. "I didn't have the balls, because I wasn't too sure I could stand in front of an audience all the time. It took forever to go on stage. I was setting up obstacles for myself, 'I didn't train for it', 'My parents are going to kill me'. Endless excuses," Camille says with a laugh, adding, "There's never a right moment. I don't think it would have happened unless something pretty big happened in my life. I definitely would have stayed on the safer side of life."

Camille on the steps of her stairs, decorated with her collection of shoes, which often play a part in her performancesBirch-ply shelves in the living room were made by Henry Seward. Camille installed the stove with a view to making a YouTube series. 'I had this notion that I would bring in acoustic people and they would sit and play by the stove,' she notes with a laughThe dressing table was a gift from the last owner who took a shine to the glamorous singer. The suitcases and vintage bags have been collected over the yearsBirch-ply shelves in the living room were made by Henry Seward. Camille installed the stove with a view to making a YouTube series. 'I had this notion that I would bring in acoustic people and they would sit and play by the stove,' she notes with a laughSinger Camille O’Sullivan in the garden she created when she moved into her red-brick terraced house in Dublin 8. She wanted a country feel, so she planted lots of fuchsia and lavender. She added the lanterns for colour

That big thing was a car accident, though initially it was more about survival. "The car accident was so mental," she says. "It was learning to walk again, use your hands again, 'Can I paint again?' 'Can I draw again?,' all those loves, and yet you're out of it on morphine and you're like, 'Look at the lovely flowers'."

However, the year-long convalescence enabled Camille to take stock of her life. "I've read recently that the closest you get to knowing what you want to do with your life is when you're closest to death. And I suppose it was a bit like that. I was forced to look at myself in a really different way," she says.

Taking the first steps to a stage career weren't so easy, but Camille says she had a lot of support, including from her only sister Vicky, a property banker, and her anxious parents, who introduced her in her childhood to the kind of music she now performs. "My mum, I suppose it's her Frenchness, she was like, 'We love you as parents and we think you're good, but maybe we're wrong and if they don't come, we'll still be there'," Camille relates with a fond laugh, knowing that they would of course have been there no matter what happened, not only because they love her, but also because they were risk-takers in their day. "My dad had done a year of architecture, but gave it up to become a racing driver. They met in Monte Carlo and then he became a professional sailor. He's a property developer too, so he did end up going back to houses. They travel the world and are quite bohemian," she explains.

She also had Feargal Murray, who has been her creative partner since the beginning. "Feargal just said, 'Choose a date, choose a venue' and that's how we started," she says.

That was at the beginning of the millennium. It was a hard slog initially, however, Camille has gradually made her name. In conversation, she constantly questions her ability, but it's obvious from her CV that she's considered a major talent. She has appeared in films with Judi Dench and the late Bob Hoskins, is a regular on Later . . . With Jools Holland and at the Edinburgh Festival, and has toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Rape of Lucrece, based on Shakespeare's poem, devised by herself and Feargal.

Looking back, she realises that while she loved her studies, the real world of architecture was not for her. "Talking to engineers, going on site, that wasn't me," she says. However, her architectural background did come in handy when she selected the house she'd like to live in; she bought it - with her dad - in 2004. A Victorian red-brick terraced house, it dates from 1900, was in good condition, and importantly was full of charm. "I love this part of town, and I love old buildings," Camille notes. And her winning personality helped her to get the house."There was a lovely man who lived here who sold antiques; he was moving to Wexford and he and I got on great. There were other people viewing, but he decided it had to be us because we got on so well."

The house was in good condition but was quite sombre with dark floorboards and dark wall colours. Camille, with the help of an architect friend Denise Doorley, changed all that. "It was quite difficult to get the floorboards back to their original lighter colour," she explains. She painted all the rooms and got Roman blinds made, she put new units, made by a company in Cork, and new flooring in the kitchen, new bathroom tiling, and planted the little back garden in such a way as to give it a country feel. "I'm a bit of a DIY-er, I always went to Woodie's with my dad. I still get excited when I pass it on the Long Mile Road," she says with a laugh.

Like most architects, she has painted all the rooms white, but there the similarity ends. The house is decorated with mannequins, suitcases, her stage dresses, her collection of antique bags, and her shoes, one pair of which played a part on Later . . . With Jools Holland when she gave a virtuoso performance of Kirsty MacColl's In These Shoes, a performance that demonstrates what an incredible storyteller she is.

The dressing table was a gift from the last owner who took a shine to the glamorous singer. The suitcases and vintage bags have been collected over the yearsSinger Camille O’Sullivan in the garden she created when she moved into her red-brick terraced house in Dublin 8. She wanted a country feel, so she planted lots of fuchsia and lavender. She added the lanterns for colourBirch-ply shelves in the living room were made by Henry Seward. Camille installed the stove with a view to making a YouTube series. 'I had this notion that I would bring in acoustic people and they would sit and play by the stove,' she notes with a laughBirch-ply shelves in the living room were made by Henry Seward. Camille installed the stove with a view to making a YouTube series. 'I had this notion that I would bring in acoustic people and they would sit and play by the stove,' she notes with a laughCamille on the steps of her stairs, decorated with her collection of shoes, which often play a part in her performances

The overall decor is what one might call 'clutter chic', but Camille knows its days are numbered. She has a two-year-old daughter and she is going to want to pull down those dresses, playact with the bags, wear those shoes, but for the time being it's all safe. "I went mental during my pregnancy, I made all these Roman blinds," she recalls with a laugh, adding that while her daughter was a baby she was able to take her everywhere, including a recent tour of Australia, with the support of her family; but as she gets older, she may have to re-think her career and opt for the way forward that is best for her little girl.

One slightly crazy career idea was the installation of a stove in the living room. "I had this mad idea. I thought I could do a little YouTube clips series and get acoustic people in and they could sit and play by my stove," she says with a laugh.

What ever this charismatic performer does next, it will be fascinating.